What are Parish Rates?

There are two types of rates that are paid on property in Jersey:

• Parish rates
• the Island-wide rate

Detailed information about the rates including:

• what the parish and Island-wide rates are
• who pays them
• who decides the rateable value of a property
• when and how rates are paid

is available on the Parish of St Helier website Click here

The Parish Rate

The Rates (Jersey) Law 2005 allows a Parish to demand rate payments from landowners, property owners and occupiers of property in each parish.

Your liability for Rates depends on the rateable value of the land which you own or occupy and whether it is assessed as being used for a domestic or non-domestic purpose. How the rateable value is worked out is outlined below.

Every property or piece of land is designated a figure in quarters. Your house for instance may be set at 10,000 quarters.

At a Parish Assembly, Parishioners set a figure for what each quarter should be worth in order to bring in enough money to cover all the bills the Parish will have to pay for that year.

If the Parish Assembly set it at 1.85 pence per quarter, then the bill for your house would be £185.00. If you live in the property then you would pay all of it but if you rented the property out, then you would pay the Fonciers rate which is half, and the tenants would pay the Occupiers part, which is the other half.

Before the rates are set, the parish budget for the current financial year is approved by members of the Parish Assembly. This meeting is advertised by the Parish and is usually held in July or August. The amount of parish rates varies from parish to parish.

Appeals

When the quarters are set for your property or land, you will be notified by letter.

There is a right to appeal against the figure and the letter tells you how to do this.

The Island Wide Rate

The Island Wide rate is collected by the parish and given to the Treasury.

The Island Wide Rate is fixed by the Government and is the same amount for every parish. The amount the parish has to pay depends on how many people in the parish.

On your Rates Demand you will see a separate assessment shown for the Island Wide rate and the Parish Rate. The two assessment figures are added together and the amount of rates you pay are charged on the combined figure. This is all shown on your Rates Demand.

Tenant’s Liability for Rates

The Rates (Jersey) Law 2005 provides that a person who is an occupier on 1 January is liable for the occupier’s rate for that year. This applies whether the tenant occupies the accommodation for the whole year or only a few days.

You should be careful that you don’t unwittingly become liable for the occupier’s rates of two properties at the same time. This can happen if you accept the keys to a new property but don’t return the keys of your previous accommodation before 31st December. The landlords can list you as the occupier both of the previous property and the new property. The effect of this is that you owe rates for both properties.

If you are considering moving and you think your move cannot be completed by 31 December, it would be better not to take the keys for the new property until after 1 January. You make sure as well that the lease agreement and the liability or the rates are checked.

Some landlords choose to apportion rates between the old and new tenants according to how much of the year they have occupied the property.  This can also cause problems if the new tenants has already paid a full year’s rates on their previous property.  This should be negotiated with the landlord.